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Engine & cooling

1997 Saturn SC Engine problems

Owners have filed 6 complaints about the 1997 Saturn SC's engine & cooling with NHTSA - 18% of all its complaints, most recently on July 5, 2013. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Complaints
6
Recalls
0
Crashes
0
Fires
0
Injuries
0
Deaths
0

Engine complaints

Electrical systemWheels & tiresEngine & cooling

I was driving the above mentioned vehicle (saturn sc1 1997) north bound on fl turnpike when the road felt really bumpy and suddenly pieces of debris started flying by the window and a large bundle of wires was flapping on the hood, coming from the front of the car; which I had to eased over to the left shoulder, got out of the vehicle immediately and contacted geico road service. Apparently, the chain of events that occurred were as follows: the lemans/bridgestone tire (p195-60r15) tread completed peeled off the...

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tire with such force..That it got shredded the fender and ripped out a large bundle of electrical cables that was in the fender. The tire remained inflated, the wire cable ran from the fuse box in the engine compartment over the wheel in the fender, to provide power to virtually every electrical component in the car, and was ripped out of the passenger compartment. A highly hazardous & dangerous incident...The pictures are extremely impressive! Be careful!!!! *Tr

Filed Incident Electrical system · Tires · EngineNHTSA 10523229
Engine & cooling

While driving on the freeway at approximately 55 mph all of a sudden smoke came from under the hood. Vehicle became squarely. There was a crack in the cylinder head, spilling oil all over the exhaust system, which caused smoke and got oil all over the tires. It blew out 4 quarts of oil very rapidly, causing the front of the vehicle to swirl all over the road. The entire vehicle was filled with oil smoke, making visibility very dangerous. There was a vertical crack on the right side of the cylinder head that...

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went all the way back to the middle of the cylinder head which had nothing to do with the cooling system. It only effected the oil. This defect was next to the air conditioning compressor. The casting did not look like very good quality. It was not reinforced as it should be. *Ak

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10101232
Engine & cooling

I got my 97 saturn sc1 a year ago with 56k miles on it. The couple that had it before me took very good care of it considering the obvious lack of quality from the factory. I've put just over 21k miles on it in the last year. Every 500-1000 miles it burns a quart of oil. This means that every 3000 miles I have to give it two oil changes, one the normal way, and one every time I fill it with gas. The joke has become "fill the oil and check the gas." *Nm

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10064451
Engine & cooling

Engine cylinder head failure while driving at 45 mph. Dealer / manufacturer notified, and informed consumer that warranty expired. Please feel free to provide any further detail on this matter. *Ak

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 880898
Engine & cooling

NO SUMMARY LISTED FOR ABOVE VEHICLE. *AK

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 724246
Engine & cooling

Motor mounts failed causing excessive vibrations.

Filed Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 543886

Saturn SC engine complaints by year

SC engine problems, every year

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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